Canada's Royal Canadian Mounted Police (1961)

[Music] [Applause] [Music] The Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMP, the Mounties, 5,400 men who maintain the law superbly well in Canada, a police force that has gained the admiration and respect of the world. Though many of the stories of the brave and fearless Mounty are just stories, he's still a special kind of man. An exceptional kind of policeman, a symbol to all the world of justice and principle, courage and courtesy. What makes a mounting? The process begins with the kind of men selected. Mike Blanchard wants to be a Mounty. Why? Because he wants to serve Canada. No other motive for joining is acceptable to the force. He's passed a tough series of intelligence, character, and medical tests. Now, this interview will decide if he has the ambition, spirit, and maturity to be a Mounty. The force is easy to get out of, but hard to get into. Accepted as a recruit, Mike Blanchard arrives at a training center to begin one of the world's most difficult training courses. 9 months under strict military discipline. The first few days are spent in getting used to the place and in collecting your kit. A blue forage cap for patrol, a brown Stson for summer wear. riding boots, spurs, slacks, and tunic of RCMP Brown. There's something about the uniform that gives you a feeling of pride already, but you're scared, too, because you know it won't be easy. Any lack of effort, nerve, or coordination will wash you out. In the barracks, you've been assigned a bed, met some of the other men, and begun the neverending polishing and shining. You're brought to attention, told to say sir, told to stand up straight a thousand times a day. In class, you begin work on some 85 different subjects. Care and handling of prisoners, criminal code, regulations and history of the force, typing, current affairs, public relations. If a policeman is to teach others to obey the law, then he himself must obey it best of all, must set the example. This principle is ground into you every hour of every day. You're marched from class to class to barracks to gym to stables to mess to drill field. You're told drill helps achieve that proud military bearing a Mounty must have. You're shouted at until you're dazed. No matter what you do, the drill sergeant is never happy. You march until you're ready to collapse. Then it's time for a little warm up in the gym. Just enough to get you in shape for a class in police holes and judo. hours a day on a horse will bring it out. After a few weeks, you're ready for suicide lane. Thundering down the strip, arms folded, holding on only with your knees. Forget about being hurt, screams the sergeant. A good man enjoys the rough and tumble. Nine months of building coordination of mind and muscle, sharpening the intellect, building courage and stamina. And this is just the beginning. There will be more training during the first few years on active duty. When there's time to think, you wonder if it's all worth it. a salary of three to $4,000 a year. Signed up for five years. Can't marry without permission. All kinds of can't do and must dos. At last, you dawn the red surge, the dress uniform for the first time, and graduate. You know now that it was all very much worthwhile. You're a Mounty, ready for your first job. It can be anywhere in Canada. A village in Nova Scotia jutting out into the North Atlantic seems a long way from home. Here it is. Your new headquarters. Under the guidance of a more experienced man, your training continues. At first, the work will be routine. Telephone and radio operator handling minor complaints. There will be thefts, accidents, drunkenness to handle, taxes to collect, permits to issue, visits to schools, helping to teach the children to be good citizens. There are the long highway patrols and the sudden radio message to search all cars crossing Haven's Ferry. A convict has escaped. Shooting without a license or out of season is against the law. Mounties enforce the game laws in Canada. A big part of the job on rural detachment duty is just being there, ready to help when you're needed and discouraging crime by your very presence. The hours are long and the work often dull, but the life has many rewards. You're respected as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In the far north, in the Arctic, where the sparse population is separated by thousands of miles of wilderness, the RCMP is the sole police force. Dog sled is often the only way to travel, and patrols sometimes last many weeks at temperatures 40 or 50 below zero. The Mounty must provide his own shelter, shoot his own food, and survive against the elements. Work among the Eskimos is largely an attempt to help with their problems since little crime exists among Eskimos. The policeman is sometimes doctor giving medicines and advising on health and family problems. He's the census taker and to the Eskimo, friend, protector, and link with the outside world. The RCMP patrols the coasts of Canada and inland waters, enforcing federal laws, operating a variety of ships, seagoing Mounties, [Applause] search and rescue operations are an important part of the work. A fishing boat has floundered in a storm off Newfoundland. What's left of its crew is a drift in a dory. [Music] A man has been injured on the lonely Labrador coast and must be removed to a hospital. There are no roads, trains, or places for a plane to land. He can be taken out only by sea. Another routine job for Marine Division. Mounties in plain clothes enforce the federal drug and narcotic laws. The dope peddler casually lights a cigarette and throws the empty box away. But it's not empty. It contains a few grains of a drug which the dope addict wants desperately. The stuff, as it is called, is wrapped in rubber so that it can be carried in the mouth, ready to swallow instantly should the addict be picked up by the police. In order to be arrested and convicted, he must be found in actual possession of the stuff. [Music] At the RCMP dog section, German Shepherds are trained for police work. A regular member of the force who has volunteered as a dogmaster selects his dog. For the next 8 or 10 years, they will live and work together as a team. The dogs are trained to track and to attack. the right arm, which could be holding a gun. They're trained to find missing persons and lost objects and are highly valued members of the RCMP. [Music] It's a foggy morning along the border between Ontario and New York State. where not even a fence separates Canada and the United States. A good morning for smuggling. Hundreds of country roads and paths crisscross the border. And a clever smuggler has a good chance of eluding the police. But the RCMP is ready for this one. Plane clothesmen are stationed at crossroads, waiting, ready to let the patrol cars know which road. The signal is passed. Truck headed north on St. Marie Road, 817. [Applause] [Music] The Royal Canadian Mounted police as a federal police force has become the most versatile law enforcement body in existence. Its duties combined those of T-men, Coast Guard, FBI, State Police, City Police, Intelligence Service, and Scotland Yard, all rolled up in one. What is it that makes the RCMP the superb police force that it is? A model to all the world of what a law enforcement body can be. Certainly training and tradition, discipline and devotion to duty. But perhaps more than this, the conviction of every Mounty that the quality of law enforcement depends upon the example, the behavior, the quality of each and every man who wears the scarlet and blue Royal Canadian Mounted Police.